Show Me the Money

This postShow me the MOney will discuss the financial ramifications of two of the most popular sports games and two of the most popular games in any genre, Madden and Fifa.  Madden football produced by EA Sports is the longest running football game and has made an estimated 4 billion dollars since its inception in 1988.

CNN reports that EA sports pays the National Football League and the NFL players association 50 million dollars to be the exclusive video game licensee.  In addition, John Madden gets 2 million from EA sports for the rights to him name on the game.

The game cost consumers 60 dollars to buy.  An estimated 5 million copies sold would generate 300,000,000 dollars. With all this financial success EA sports has become the target of multiple lawsuits.  Gamers sued EA sports for the monopoly the company had with the Madden, NCAA football, and arena football licenses for games between 2005-2012.

The second article cited goes into the details of the madden game that was released for the 2015 season.  The article states that gamers played Madden 2015 for nearly 6 million hours the first week it was released. The madden franchise has had great success in the United States the international market is dominated by EA sports Fifa.

The Fifa 16 installment projects to sell 12.1 million copies world wide according the the Forbes article cited. The article also states that the Fifa franchise generates the largest annual release for EA sports by generating 3.6 billion in sales. Fifa has sold more than 100 million copies since 1993.  Although Fifa still trails Madden football and 2K basketball in the unites states the gap is closing with a 35 percent jump in sales from 2010 to 2012 per the author of the article Kurt Badenhausen.

My personal experiences with these franchises includes a time where I purchased these two games annually for a better part of a decade. 1,000 dollars is a safe estimate of the money I have given to purchase these games for the last 10+ years. I do not consider the money a waste but I am quick to realize that I have not bought these games annually as I did when I was younger.  This is due to several factors, not as much free time, not as important to my friends and I to play these games when we are together, and the lack of innovation with in the games have made my interest decline.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/09/05/technology/innovation/madden-25/

http://www.primagames.com/games/madden-nfl-25/news/madden-nfl-25-rushes-one-million-copies-sold-first

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2014/07/13/ea-sports-fifa-video-game-helps-fuel-interest-in-the-world-cup/